Lapham’s Quarterly is running a series on the history of best sellers, exploring the circumstances that might inspire thousands to gravitate toward the same book and revisiting well-loved works from the past that, due to a variety of circumstances, vanished from the conversation after they peaked on the charts. We are also publishing a digital edition of one of these forgotten best sellers, Mary Augusta Ward’s 1903 novel Lady Rose’s Daughter , with a new introduction, annotations, and an appendix. To read more about the project and explore the other entries in the series, click here. When asked to name the American novel with the greatest continuing social relevance, the literary historian is apt to reply with